The three lovable characters from "Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown." Credit: AFP/Getty Images

If you're like us, some of your fondest memories revolve around watching the Charlie Brown television specials. Now, you can introduce your own kids to the beloved gang, thanks to the first new animated Peanuts special in five years.

The family of beloved Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz helped to create "Happiness Is A Warm Blanket," a 44-minute, direct-to-DVD tale about Linus and his cherished blue blanket.

We spoke with Charles M. Schulz's son, Craig, who runs the family business with Schulz's widow, Jeannie. We chatted about his famous father and how this latest Charlie Brown adventure came about. An edited version of that conversation follows.

ParentDish: What do you think it is about the Peanuts characters that resonates with so many people?Craig Schulz: I think because we can all relate. Every person has one or two or more of the traits of the characters. I think we would all would love to be Snoopy and live in his fantasy world.

PD: What do you mean?
CS: We all get stuck in [the] pace of our lives. And then you look at someone like Snoopy. One day he's going to the moon, the next day he's a flying ace, the next day he's writing great novels [or] he's an attorney. He gets to live all these great fantasies and when it all goes wrong he goes up on the top of the doghouse and falls asleep.

PD: Now that you mention it, that does sound nice.
CS: And he has a total disregard for his owner. He's the only dog who never knows his owner's name. He's just the big round headed kid who gives him his food, and that's all Snoopy cares about. (laughs)

PD: My son draws his own comic strip and is a huge Peanuts fan. He wanted me to ask you -- where did your dad get the idea for Peanuts?
CS: [It] came from [his experiences] growing up. We [all] look back on our childhood and there's kids that were the great baseball players and the rock stars and whatever, and then there's those of us who never thought we'd fit in, and that was my dad. Even though he was good at sports and good in school, he thought he was the average kid that no one would recognize [or] get along with, and I think that stuck with him throughout his life.

PD: Your father must have realized what an impact he had on people. Did he never really feel that?
CS: I think on some level he never did ... [part of him] always felt relatively inadequate. Maybe it was the craft he was doing. Cartoonists really don't rank that high on the esteem list of artists in the country.

This is what my dad had to deal with every day ... six inches by six inches. The newspaper [prints it] one inch by one inch on cheap paper, people read it, and then it goes into the birdcage. Unless you come to the Schulz Museum and look at the originals, you really have no idea how much work goes into the strips, it's totally different from what the viewer gets to see. On the other hand, my dad had 50 years communicating with over 400 million people, and I doubt that that's been topped by anybody. We're trying to figure out where we can put it as the newspapers continually dwindle out of the world.

PD: Which brings us to the DVD. This is a new animated special?
CS: All new, yeah. Warner Brothers wanted a direct to DVD, 44-minute long special. And the family was adamant about making it based upon the comic strips, with nothing made up, right out of my dad's mouth. We spent a year and a half going through comic strips one by one, trying to form this story of Linus dealing with the blanket, his grandmother coming ... but it's more than that. The story deals with all the characters' lives ... Who's secure, who's insecure, and why.

PD: You said the family had to be comfortable with the project. Who is the group that has to agree to everything?
CS: My dad's five children. (Charles M. Schulz had five kids, Meredith, Monte, Amy, Craig and Jill.) I'm in the middle of that group. And his wife Jeannie. It's a tough crowd.

PD: Why do you say that?
CS: Well, because like my dad, they're all very competitive, they're all very headstrong, they all kind of know where they're going and why. And the thing about the family -- that I agree with totally -- everything we do is not solely to make money. It all goes back to the integrity of my dad's work. That's our No. 1 goal, it always has been.

PD: You wrote this special, right?
CS: Well, if you break it down my dad wrote this one. I say we adapted it from the comic strip. We tried to take a different look at the Peanuts specials, [which have] covered pretty much every kind of situation you could imagine -- from the space program ... to a little girl who had cancer. We realized that what hadn't been done is [digging deeper] into the comic strips to find new stories. We wanted the special to appeal not only to children but also to the die-hard Peanuts fan.

PD: So is it fair to say that you're looking towards the future, to see that Peanuts lives forever?
CS: Without a doubt. I think it will live forever. I think the tone, the essence of the comic strip, the philosophy, is kind of timeless. It amazes me every day when we get the list of the comic strips that are coming out in the next four or five months. They'll be dead on with what's going on in the world today, and it was 40 years ago when he wrote that stuff.

In Delaware, "Legislation introduced Tuesday in the House would require parental consent for minors under 18 to get an abortion," according to DelawareOnline.com.

The story points out that abortion opponents are using other local laws as a guide, such as one that "... requires Delaware teens ages 14 to 17 to get a parent's written permission to use a tanning bed. Children under 14 are prohibited from tanning unless a doctor recommends it." (Not to be flip about a serious topic, but under what circumstances would a doctor recommend that a 12-year-old use a tanning bed?)

Should parents who let their kids drink at home be punished? Credit: Getty Images

Attention Mississippi parents: If you let your teenagers and their friends drink alcohol at your house, you could go to jail.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour "... has signed into law a bill that supporters say will make it easier to prosecute parents who host drinking parties for teenagers," according to AP.

Potential punishments for party-perpetrating parents range from a $1,000 fine to 90 days in jail.

Mississippi local officials say, "Parties where teens invite their buddies over with their parents' permission to throw open the liquor cabinet or raid a fridge full of beer are common." We imagine it happens in other states as well.

Some parents let their kids drink at home where they can supervise and ensure that no one is driving. What do you think? Should parents who let teens drink at home be punished? Or is it better for the kids to party under your own roof so you can keep an eye on them?

]]>alcoholteen drinkingteenagersteens and alcohol useBrett SingerTue, 05 Apr 2011 08:00:00 ESTIs it OK To Take Underage Kids To R-Rated Movies?http://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/01/is-it-ok-to-take-underage-kids-to-r-rated-movies/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/01/is-it-ok-to-take-underage-kids-to-r-rated-movies/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/01/is-it-ok-to-take-underage-kids-to-r-rated-movies/#commentsFiled under: In The News, Media, New In Pop Culture, Celeb News & InterviewsFormer "Friends" star David Schwimmer has directed a new film called "Trust", which tells the story of "a family torn apart after their daughter is victimized and sexually assaulted by a man she meets online," according to MTV News. "Trust" is rated R, but the actor turned director thinks parents should bring their teens.

Why? Schwimmer tells MTV News that the flick has an important message for today's young people -- that talking to strangers online can be very dangerous. He says that "Trust" has "no violence [or] nudity," that it was "the subject matter" that earned the R rating.

Ernie Allen, the center's president and chief executive officer, tells ParentDish in a phone interview that Transcender's tale is not unique. Of the 800,000 children reported missing each year, "about 200,000 of those are children taken by other family members," Allen says.

ParentDish spoke with Transcender, who has been reunited with his son. An edited version of the conversation follows.

ParentDish: Your music is similar in style to Neil Young. Is that intentional? Are you a fan of his work?
George Transcender: It's not intentional and, certainly, I'm a fan. Any serious musician who has not been influenced by Neil Young is either a liar, a fool or both.

PD: What motivated you to make this music?
GT: In 1988, my 2-year-old precious little boy was abducted. What ensued was a 4 &frac12; year search. (I) lived in a van (and traveled) thousands of miles. I had to sell everything I had -- grand pianos, art collections, book collections, just everything. Even my cherished electric guitar. The responsibility of parenthood, to me, is the most serious undertaking in a man's lifetime, a woman's lifetime, a parent's lifetime.

What motivated me to make this music was my absolute love for my child, and my responsibility as a parent to let him know, as he grew, wherever he was, that I was out there searching all those years.

All these art forms -- what creative people do -- it's a coping strategy against insanity. It's the only healthy defense mechanism humans have.

PD: Did you find your son?
GT: I found him after a major push with my last large chunk of money, and he surfaced in another part of the country. We flew there, and what commenced was 4 &frac12; years of custody trials, in which I went bankrupt a few times and experienced what it is to be a male in family court. It's akin to being a black in criminal court. With the asterisk, if you're male and (can afford) representation (and) expert witnesses ... But, generally speaking, it is an epidemic of bias in family court, because, in this country, it's a maternal presumption that we go upon.

(On TV) you'll see commercials that have the mom taking care of whatever needs to be taken care of having to do with this child's upbringing, and Daddy's not in that commercial nine (times) out of 10.

PD: So, how did the custody battle end?
GT: There are 729 hours in a month, approximately. At the end, I got 29 hours of broken up time during the month.

PD: What would you say to people who are put off by the CD's subject matter, who find the songs creepy or difficult to listen to?
GT: When we humans look at a person who's amputated, you know that feeling you get? We turn away for that second, as a reflexive action, because subconsciously (we're afraid) that it may happen to us.

PD: Have you had contact with any parents of missing children? How did they react to the music?
GT: I have (and) it's all been positive. One of the guys I had contact with -- I'll just give you a for instance of the kind of intensity -- went on a hunger strike for 57 days on the steps of a courtroom here because he was not allowed to see his daughters. He was real, and a good person, and he was a wonderful and courageous father. Fifty-seven days proved that to me; he almost lost his life.

Each personal encounter with a parent of a missing child elicits the same deep level of appreciation for what they heard because it was a catharsis for them, and catharsis is something that will allow you to have a good cry. And a good cry is necessary for a healthy human mind every now and then.

]]>abducted childrenAbductedChildrengeorge transcenderGeorgeTranscendermissing childrenMissingChildrennational center for missing and exploited childrenNationalCenterForMissingAndExploitedChildrenSongs For Parents of Missing ChildrenSongsForParentsOfMissingChildrenBrett SingerMon, 21 Mar 2011 17:30:00 ESTDo You Pull Your Child Out of School for Family Vacations?http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/21/do-you-pull-your-child-out-of-school-for-family-vacations/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/21/do-you-pull-your-child-out-of-school-for-family-vacations/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/21/do-you-pull-your-child-out-of-school-for-family-vacations/#commentsFiled under: Places To Go, Opinions

Credit: Getty Images

Do you pull your child out of school for family vacations?

The Kansas City Star reports on a recent Travel Industry of America poll that found 16 million parents "let children miss school to gain travel experience." We're not talking about a lot of time -- according to the poll, "43 percent (of children) missed only one day and 29 percent missed only two days."

Eleven percent skipped school for skiing trips and other family vacations for more than a week.

Family vacations are great. But school is important. Do you let your child skip school for vacations?

As PD writer, Amy Hatch, points out, Charlie Sheen's meltdown is being used as entertainment. Because, it is indeed entertaining -- in a train-wreck sort of way. As a parent, though, it was hard not to feel sadness when his sons were taken away.

The Sheen saga isn't fading anytime soon. Mr. Tiger Blood "...is changing America's pop culture landscape," Fox News says. He is even going on a live tour. It seems like he is doing everything but being a father.

So what do you think? As a parent, are you disturbed by Charlie Sheen's meltdown? Or is it just more grist for the celebrity meltdown mill?

The NCAA College Basketball Tournament is in full swing and March Madness is upon us. Have you filled out your bracket yet? Despite all of the attention that the games receive, the only people not making money are the players themselves.

It's easy to forget that these athletes are college students, who in theory are in school to learn stuff. Some receive scholarships for their exceptional athletic ability, but, is that enough?

Division I student athletes receive a lot of help and some of them don't take advantage of it, columnist Paul Daugherty claims. On the other hand, "A $2,000 per semester stipend would go a long way for giving the student athletes extra money to help pay bills and living expenses," argues a Huffington Post writer.

College athletics pull in a staggering amount of money, and the athletes see none of it. Back in 2006, the average salary for an NCAA college coach was $800,000, according to USA Today. And Forbes.com reports that the NCAA receives $771.5 million per year from the sale of TV rights to the games. That money is split among the various schools.

What do you think? Should student athletes be paid? Or are scholarships enough?

A teenager sending nude photos to another teenager is considered a sex crime in most states. Because of child pornography laws, a 15-year-old who stupidly sends a picture of their privates to a "friend with benefits" could wind up on sex offender list for life.

Some think the current punishment for sexting is too extreme. A bill is being considered in Florida that would make a teen's first sexting offense "a non-criminal threat." A similar bill just passed in New Jersey; judges can now send offending teens to education programs instead of prison.

Clearly, the rise of teen sexting is a problem. It is certainly poor judgment and should not be handled lightly. But, should courts treat teens who commit this dumb act the same way they treat child pornographers?

What do you think? Should teen sexting be decriminalized? Or should the law remain -- one strike and you're out?

]]>chatterboxsextingSextingTeensteen sextingTeenSextingBrett SingerWed, 16 Mar 2011 08:00:00 ESTDoes It Bother You When Celebrities Have Children Out of Wedlock?http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/15/celebrities-children-out-of-wedlock/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/15/celebrities-children-out-of-wedlock/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/15/celebrities-children-out-of-wedlock/#commentsFiled under: In The NewsNews that actor Ryan Phillippe might be a father again (he already has kids with his ex-wife Reese Witherspoon), reminds us of how many celebrities have children out of wedlock.

Some parents like to inform their offspring about current events, even those that are truly terrible, while others prefer not to mention such disasters.

When readers were asked if they were talking to their kids about the Arizona shooting, one commenter wrote: "Adults try too hard to filter the news for kids." She said she started reading the newspaper at age 10, and, while she acknowledged some things should be filtered, in general, kids should know what's going on in the world.

Women are injecting themselves with a pregnancy hormone called hCG in order to lose weight, The New York Times reports. One dieter's theory is that "... by combining the hormone injections with a 500-calorie-a-day diet, she will achieve a kind of weight-loss nirvana: losing fat in all the right places without feeling tired or hungry."

Remember when the science of giving birth was about, well, giving birth?

This diet plan doesn't come as too much of a shock considering the lengths some people go to in order to lose weight -- eating placenta, or consuming breast milk ice cream to name a few. But, this one seems extreme.

What about you? Would you inject yourself with pregnancy hormones to lose weight? Or is that just too weird?

]]>hCGhcg dietHcgDietBrett SingerFri, 11 Mar 2011 11:37:00 ESTDo You Leave Your Kids in the Car When You Go Shopping?http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/09/kids-in-car/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/09/kids-in-car/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/09/kids-in-car/#commentsFiled under: In The News

Credit: Getty Images

A South Carolina mom has been charged with "unlawful conduct toward a child." What did she do? Left three kids in a pick-up truck while she went shopping at Walmart, according to NBC's WCBD News.

This is hardly the first time a parent has left a child in the car while they ran some errands. Or, you know, went to a brothel. Whenever I see stories like these, I wonder why they don't simply bring the kids into the store. In this case, the mom went shopping with her boyfriend. According to published reports, they were gone for over 20 minutes. Leaving kids in the car alone is a bad idea. Leaving three kids, ages 3, 4 and 6, in a car alone is a really bad idea.

Still, it all depends on age and circumstances. Maybe sometimes it's just easier to leave the kid in the car while you run in to the store.

What about you? Do you leave your kids in the car when you go shopping?

In France, many children drink alcohol at home. Credit: Martin Bernetti, AFP/Getty Images

The Wall Street Journal has a story where they wonder if parents should "teach their teens how to drink responsibly."

I guess "Just Say No" is too retro.

In France, kids drink wine when they are relatively young. (Of course, they also eat snails, but whatever.) So it's not unheard of. There are even health benefits to wine.

Then the Journal offers up some disturbing statistics. "Nearly 6 percent of 12- to 14-year-olds -- some 700,000 middle-schoolers-drank alcohol in the past month. Nearly 45 percent of them got it for free at home and 16 percent were served by a parent or guardian," according to a recent study. I don't know about you, but when I read stats like those, it makes me want a drink. (Just kidding. Sort of.)

So what do you do? Do you serve your children alcohol at home? Or if the kids ask for a glass of vino, do you just say no?

This question comes via an item from NBC News in New York: "Brooklyn Magistrate Ramon Reyes has allowed Anthony Colandra, suspected in a double murder, to leave his Upper East Side home for two hours on Sundays and Mondays to coach his son's team in the Catholic Youth Organization."

The alleged criminal is out on bail, and his son's team practices close to Colandra's apartment.

Last year I appeared on CNN HLN to talk about whether or not someone with a criminal record should be allowed to coach Little League. The circumstances in that case were different -- it came out that the coach was an ex-con after he punched the league president, and he didn't have any children of his own playing on the team. This time, it's someone who has only been accused of a crime, is out on bail, and it's his own son's team that he's coaching.

That said, how would you feel if your child were on that team? Should alleged criminals be allowed to coach Little League?

When newly elected Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced Feb. 11 that he wanted to take away most of the collective bargaining rights of public employees, he probably expected some backlash.

It's unlikely, however, that he had any idea his plan would lead to tens of thousands of protesters rallying daily at the state Capitol.

Many of the early protesters were teachers, but they were soon joined by parents and their children. When the teachers went back to work on Feb. 22, parents kept the pressure on by organizing their own rallies -- police estimated there were "about 70,000" protesters at the Capitol on Feb. 27, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.

ParentDish spoke to Jennifer Uphoff Gray, a Madison mother of three, with children in preschool, second and fourth grade. The artistic director of the Forward Theater Company, who has attended eight rallies since Feb. 17, and plans to take her kids with her to another rally on March 5, talks about Walker's bill, the protests and why she thinks parents should get involved. An edited version of the interview follows.

ParentDish: How did you first get involved in the protests?Jennifer Uphoff Gray: I was aware that Gov. Walker had announced that he was introducing a bill that would significantly curtail union rights in our state. But I was in tech for a production and didn't have a chance to read much beyond the headlines. A few days later, Tuesday night, Feb. 15, I received word that my middle son's public school would be closed the following day because the Madison teacher's union had decided to do a mass protest at the state Capitol.

As images of teachers and parents and students protesting peacefully on that Wednesday, Feb. 16, started to come out, I realized that there might actually be an opportunity to defeat this bill. ... The next day, I took my son down to the protest. There were about 25,000 people there that day. It was an extraordinary learning opportunity for him.

PD: How so?
JG: He got to see what public discourse in action looked like. We also ran into several of his teachers in the Capitol building. They were very moved, and they thanked him for being there to support such an important cause. That had a big impact on him.

PD: Why is this an important cause to you?
JG: I've spent my entire life active in political and progressive causes. This bill of the governor's cuts at the fundamental social bargain that we have entered into with our communities and our public workers. These workers did not cause the financial crisis that we are in. Even so, salaries have been cut, benefits have been deferred, public workers have stepped up to be part of the solution. Even with the governor's request for significant changes to financial compensation, the unions have agreed to all of those cutbacks. Walker is only interested in dismantling public unions. This is not about the budget.

PD: What has it been like at the protests?
JG: It has been profoundly inspiring. The crowds are multi-generational; you see college students, children, adults, public and private employees, small business owners. People are polite, they are respectful, they are patriotic, they show their support for the institutions of our state, they show respect for the Capitol building, itself.

The people who were locked out organized cleaning crews every hour, leaving the building cleaner than when they found it. When some of the snow that had been there for weeks started to melt, volunteer crews (of protesters) started picking up trash that had been there since before the protests started.

The other thing I would say is that there have been no significant arrests. Over these two weeks there have been probably half a million people in and out of the Capitol area. The typical Badger hockey game, at least nine or 10 people get arrested. (Laughs.)

PD: What happened when the schools reopened?
JG: On Monday, Feb. 21, the Madison teachers announced that they would return to teaching the following day. That evening, a number of parents in the Madison school district started spreading the word on Facebook that they were going to organize a rally to represent their children's teachers. I helped spread the word about that protest and went down on the 22nd. There were, again, tens of thousands of people at the Capitol that day. Among them were hundreds of parents carrying signs that said "I am here for so and so because he or she is teaching my child."

These are our teachers. These are our families. What the governor is trying to do is wrong.

BYU has suspended Brandon Davies for the rest of the season for violating the school's honor code. The university announced the move March 1, 2011. Credit: Isaac Brekken, AP

College basketball is a big deal, especially in March. (March Madness, anyone?) So the fact that Brigham Young University player Brandon Davies was suspended for having sex out of wedlock must have been frustrating to BYU fans. Especially since the team quickly lost their first game without him, according to published reports.

At first glance, I said, "Suspended for premarital sex? That's stupid." But BYU has an honor code that demands students remain "chaste and virtuous." According to BYU's website, you have to ask permission to grow a beard. So it's not like Davies didn't know he was doing something that would get him in trouble. (Unless he was drunk. But I'm guessing that's a violation of the honor code as well.)

BYU coach David Rose said that he thinks Davies will play for the team again in the future. Personally, I think that when you sign something called an "honor code," you should, well, honor it. Even if you are a really good basketball player.

So what do you think? Do student honor codes matter? Or should they make exceptions sometimes?

Imagine you send your child to the public school in your neighborhood. You're happy. They're happy. Even if everyone isn't in a state of constant bliss, at least you know where your children are going every day.

Now imagine that the school your child is attending is closed. Not for a snow day. For good.

This might happen in Pennsylvania, where "the Mifflinburg Area School District is considering closing one of its elementary schools," according to WNEP.com.

With budgets being slashed across the nation, even education is on the chopping block. Yesterday we asked about states cutting teachers. But what if they start to close schools as well? This isn't a trend yet, but times are tough.

Should teachers' jobs be on the budget chopping block? Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Times are tough, and many states are looking to cut teachers in order to save money. But is education the place to make cuts?

In New York City, Mayor Bloomberg recently said that nearly 5,000 teachers could be laid off. We've been hearing a lot about teacher seniority, bloated union benefits and so on.

I was talking to a taxi driver about this topic yesterday (seriously) and he pointed out that in the past couple of years, Bloomberg has spent a lot of money creating bike lanes, making, in his words, the roads smaller, despite the fact that there are more cars.

This got me thinking: Might there not be other areas to cut before cutting teachers? This isn't only happening in New York City, of course -- it's a national issue. I don't pretend to understand the complexities of government budgets, but I do know that fewer teachers is unlikely to mean a better educational experience for children.

What do you think? Should states be cutting teachers to save money? Or should they look elsewhere to find that much-needed cash?